Afghanistan: Protests Against 10-Year War

Musicians, actors, celebrities and MPs joined anti-war protestors in London to mark the tenth anniversary of the Afghanistan conflict.

Speakers including Jemima Khan and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange called on the government to pull British forces out of the country.

They say the public wanted an end a mission which has claimed hundreds of lives and cost the UK close to £10bn.

But the Stop the War Coalition march on Downing Street failed to attract the mass crowd organisers had hoped for.

What had been billed as a "mass protest to mark the 10th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan" attracted fewer people than expected.

Police put the total figure of protesters at less than 2,000 people.

Former soldier Joe Glenton, who was jailed for refusing to return to Afghanistan in 2007, insisted the poor turnout did not mean people do not care about what happens.

He said: "In a recent poll 74% of people said they wanted our troops out. What we have learned since 9/11 is the limit of our democracy.

"The war against Afghanistan was unpopular from the start and completely unnecessary and yet we've been there for ten years despite all the public descent."

Glenton, along with MP Jeremy Corbin and 106-year-old protest veteran Hetty Bower, handed in a petition to Downing Street with the names of British and American veterans calling for an end to the military action in Afghanistan.